When you hear the word terrorist mentioned in the media what is the first thing that comes to one’s mind? In the West, this gives us the imagery of a bearded man, essentially a Muslim about to blow himself up and killing innocent people with him. The word terrorist is perceived differently to many people based on where they live. For example, if you mention terrorist to a Palestinian living in the west bank or Gaza, that brings up the image of an Israeli soldier shooting school kids and pregnant women. As one can see the word terrorist could mean a cold-blooded killer of innocent people to a group of people and would mean a freedom fighter to another group of people.
By definition, the word terrorist means “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims;” however when a Christian person bombs an abortion clinic killing everyone inside, he is looked upon Is looked upon by other Christian extremists as a person doing God’s work.
Many politicians in our time use that word for political gain. As an example of that our current president labels Islam and Muslims as terrorists, this way he can create an enemy and rally his supporters against that ”common” enemy to get elected. He is portraying himself as the savior from previous policy makers that allowed these terrorists to enter our country.
The firs time the term terrorism was used in the English language was during the French revolution when the Jacobins, who ruled the state after the revolution, used the guillotine in public to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. “In the 20th century, terrorism continued to be associated with a vast array of anarchist, socialist, fascist and nationalist groups, many of them engaged in ‘third world‘ anti-colonial struggles.” As mentioned above, the term terrorist is mostly associated with a specific religious or ethnic group. For example, if a white person commits mass murder in public in this country he is labeled as crazy or mentally unstable, like the shooter at Mandalay Bay Casino three years ago in Las Vegas. If that same act was committed by a muslim without being associated with any group, that act is labeled as a terrorist act.
In conclusion, the word terrorism or terrorist, as a wise man once said “One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter”. Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther king Jr. were once thought of as terrorists, in fact they went to jail for it, but now they are remembered as heroes. When we hear the word terrorist or terrorism we should not immediately assume that it is the stereotypical understanding of that word, but instead we should always understand the whole story behind the person or the act before we make judgement.
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